California is the first state in U.S. to urge public companies to add more women on their corporate boards. In September 2013, the legislature approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 62. The resolution was prompted by our eight years of research on women business leaders in California.

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature acknowledges that the body of evidence to date concludes that companies perform better when their boards and executive leadership include women, and that the State of California has a significant stake in both protecting the shareholders of publicly traded companies, as well as setting policies that enable them to perform better.”

The California 400: Still Dominated by Men

The UC Davis Graduate School of Management in partnership with Watermark publishes the annual “UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders: A Census of Women Directors and Executive Officers.”

Our eighth annual study details the presence of women at the very top of the 400 largest publicly held corporations headquartered in the state. Our findings paint a disappointing picture of female representation on the boards and in the executive suites of these high-profile companies. Combined, our California 400 represent nearly $3 trillion in shareholder value.

Women still hold fewer than one in 10 of the highest-paid executive positions and board seats at the top public firms in California—and over the past eight years there has been no measurable, significant progress in the representation of women in the top decision-making posts of these California 400.

To compete in today’s global marketplace, successful companies need leaders from a variety of backgrounds, skills and experience to make critical strategic and operations decision, but the lack of women in these California public companies is anything but forward-thinking.”

– Dean Steven C. Currall

Key Findings of 2012-2013 Study

There is only one woman for every nine men among directors and highest-paid executives.

Only 13 of the 400 largest companies have a woman CEO.

No company has an all-female (nor gender-balanced) board and management team.

Almost half (44.8 percent) of California’s companies have no women directors;
34 percent have only one woman director.

Among counties with at least 20 companies, San Francisco County has the greatest percentage of women directors (15.5 percent) and Orange County has the least (7.7 percent). Alameda County has the most highest-paid women executives in the study, with 14.4 percent highest-paid women executives working there.

By industry — firms in the semiconductor and software industries and those located in the Silicon Valley tended to include fewer women on the board and in highest-paid executive positions. Firms in the consumer goods sector had the highest average percentage of women directors and highest-paid executives.

Of the best known companies in California—Apple, Google, Intel, Cisco, Visa, eBay, DIRECTV, Yahoo!, and PG&E—all had no women among their highest-paid executives at fiscal year-end.

The 128 Silicon Valley (Santa Clara county) companies, which represent $1.2 trillion, or nearly half the shareholder value of the companies on the list, again showed the worst record for percentage of women executives. Only 6.6 percent of their highest-paid executives are women, and only 8.4 percent of Silicon Valley board members in our study are women.

Partnering with Watermark and InterOrganization Network

The UC Davis Graduate School of Management’s partners on the annual census with Watermark, a non-profit community of executive women. Watermark is a member of ION, the InterOrganization Network. Formed in 2004, ION advocates for the advancement of women to positions of power in the business world, especially to boards of directors and executive suites. Today, ION has 16 regional members nationwide, representing more than 10,000 women in business across a wide range of industries.

Watermark and UC Davis will join the national conversation on gender diversity in U.S. corporate boardrooms by holding an event in San Francisco on December 12, 2012, among others nationwide on the same day co-hosted by 2020 Women on Boards’ chapters, as well as male and female champions nationwide.

REGISTER ONLINE NOW FOR DEC. 12 EVENT: Promoting Gender Diversity and the Bottom Line. Study author Amanda Kimball will present the census findings followed by a panel discussion on on how to raise the level of dialogue—how to become agents of change.

ION and Catalyst will announce national results on December 11, 2012. Please check back here or the ION web site for the ION annual report and national statistics from Catalyst.

Resources and Related Links

Watermark - In an effort to turn these numbers around, and thereby help companies improve their profit margins, Watermark created the Watermark Institute Board Access™ program. The program is designed to assist women in advancing their presence in business management, C-level offices and on boards. Candidates complete the program in three phases: assessment and coaching, board simulation and additional readiness resources, and critical connections, which all provide the candidate with the tools required to secure business leadership positions.

State of California Commission on the Status of Women – Established in 1965, the only state agency specifically dedicated to protecting the interests of California women. The commission works to ensure that women have equal rights and opportunity and that enacted legislation does not discriminate against women or otherwise undermine their status or their opportunities.

Catalyst – A national research and advisory organization working with businesses and the professions to build inclusive environments and expand opportunities for women at work. The UC Davis Graduate School of Management is one of only 10 universities/global business schools that are members of Catalyst.

2020 Women on Boards – A national campaign to increase the percentage of women on U.S. company boards to 20% or greater by the year 2020.

Women Matter – “Achieving the promise of women executives” Since 2007, McKinsey’s Women Matter research has explored the role women play in the global workplace, their experiences and impact in senior-executive roles, and the performance benefits that companies gain from gender diversity. In this video, McKinsey partners Joanna Barsh, Sandrine Devillard, Emily Lawson, and Jin Wang recount the progress women have made in reaching the executive suite.

For the past eight years, Watermark, in partnership with the University of California, Davis, has conducted the Study of California Women Business Leaders, a census and report on the status of women on boards and in top positions in Fortune 400 companies in California. In this Huffington Post blog, Marilyn Nagel, CEO of Watermark discusses the step that Resolution 62 takes, urging California companies to have equitable and diverse gender representation.

Prompted by our eight years of research on women business leaders in California, California becomes the first state in U.S. to urge more women on corporate boards. State Senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 62 by 30-6 vote. Dean Currall and Researcher Amanda Kimball are cited.

In a major reorganization of the company, Microsoft now has four women in its top 14 executive positions. This is a strong deviation from the standard in the tech industry which has a dismal record in this area. The UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders is cited.

Innovation is at the heart of growth in any new sector, especially STEM-related ones, and the best driver of innovation is a diversity of perspectives, experiences, and expertise at the table. Interesting article about the lack of women in the Clean-Tech sector and how we can level the playing field. Amanda Kimball is quoted

(women) will stand out as being unique and bringing something new to the table…. women bring a perspective to the table that businesses are sorely lacking right now…” says Amanda Kimball, author of our UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders

The 400 largest companies headquartered in California, representing almost $3 trillion in shareholder value, still resemble a “boys’ club” with women filling fewer than 10 percent of top executive jobs, a University of California, Davis, study has found. Incremental gains have been pitiful, in my opinion.

The Graduate School of Management’s eighth annual UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders—a yearly benchmark for the Golden State’s lack of progress in promoting women business leaders—paints a dismal picture for women in leadership during fiscal year 2011-2012.

The survey, the only one of its kind to focus on gender equity in the boardrooms and executive suites of corporate California, reports that some of the best known among the top companies, or the California 400, have no women leaders.

Women have made few inroads into the executive offices and boardrooms of California companies, according to a new UC Davis study.

The eighth annual “Study of California Women Business Leaders,” released Wednesday by the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, found that women still occupy less than one in 10 of the top posts at the 400 largest public firms headquartered in the state. The findings dovetail with past reports.

The eighth annual “Study of California Women Business Leaders,” released today by the UC Davis Graduate School of Business, found that women still occupy fewer than one in 10 of the top posts at the 400 largest public firms headquartered in the state.

This year’s findings dovetail with past reports.

This year, for the first time, the survey also looked at ethnicity among the 85 Fortune 1000 companies in California, and only one company in that subset of businesses had an ethnic woman as its CEO. Only 13 had any ethnic women directors.

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Amanda Kimball is a research specialist collaborating on faculty research projects. She authors the School’s annual “UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders.” Kimball spent time in a PhD program for Economics at UC Davis, where she earned her masters degree in 2003, with concentrations in Microeconomic Theory and Industrial Organization. She has a background in business and economics including having worked for Capital One, the Investment Company Institute, and the Corporate Executive Board.

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